Chapter 10 Brief description of the plot:
Chapter 10 starts off with the characters facing hardships in the cold months of December because all of the meat industries were at a low production rate and therefore the salaries had to be decreased. Owning a house proves to be more difficult when the 12 sum inhabitants learn that they have to pay 1,000 dollars a year for house insurance. They quickly learn this once the pipes freeze then burst. Jurgis is upset because the agent does not confront him about these problems, but rather Elzbieta and Jurgis went to the agent and told him he wants to know when Elzbieta or anyone else knows about these extra house costs that were not stated up front. Other costs include the possible building of a sidewalk in front of their home or a water tax or installing a sewer. Marija eventually resumes work painting cans at her factory, only to be fired a few months later after telling her superintendent that she never received her pay for painting 300 cans that were never noted. Marija finds work in Packingtown and replaces a man because she is just as strong if not stronger and does not mind the work as much. Ona gives birth to a baby and when she goes back to work she is depressed and sad and this is called “Womb trouble” by all the other women who have gone through giving birth then having to go back to work within the week in order to receive their pay. Jurgis is very happy to have a baby, but he and Ona rarely get to see him because they are always at work so they have Teta Elzbieta look after him. The chapter ends with Ona taking medication suggested by her friends and peers to help her cope with her “Womb trouble.”
Characters in the Chapter:
Jurgis
Marija
Ona
Teta Elzbieta
Tamoszius
Miss Henderson
Baby Antanas
Notable passages (including page number):
“Four or five miles east of them…tied to it for life,” (pg 102)
“People who worked with their hands were a class apart, and were made to feel it,” (pg 102)
“Hearing in the wailing melodies the voices of the unborn generation which cried out in her for life,” (pg 105)
Brief description of the plot:
Chapter 10 starts off with the characters facing hardships in the cold months of December because all of the meat industries were at a low production rate and therefore the salaries had to be decreased. Owning a house proves to be more difficult when the 12 sum inhabitants learn that they have to pay 1,000 dollars a year for house insurance. They quickly learn this once the pipes freeze then burst. Jurgis is upset because the agent does not confront him about these problems, but rather Elzbieta and Jurgis went to the agent and told him he wants to know when Elzbieta or anyone else knows about these extra house costs that were not stated up front. Other costs include the possible building of a sidewalk in front of their home or a water tax or installing a sewer. Marija eventually resumes work painting cans at her factory, only to be fired a few months later after telling her superintendent that she never received her pay for painting 300 cans that were never noted. Marija finds work in Packingtown and replaces a man because she is just as strong if not stronger and does not mind the work as much. Ona gives birth to a baby and when she goes back to work she is depressed and sad and this is called “Womb trouble” by all the other women who have gone through giving birth then having to go back to work within the week in order to receive their pay. Jurgis is very happy to have a baby, but he and Ona rarely get to see him because they are always at work so they have Teta Elzbieta look after him. The chapter ends with Ona taking medication suggested by her friends and peers to help her cope with her “Womb trouble.”
Characters in the Chapter:
Jurgis
Marija
Ona
Teta Elzbieta
Tamoszius
Miss Henderson
Baby Antanas
Notable passages (including page number):
“Four or five miles east of them…tied to it for life,” (pg 102)
“People who worked with their hands were a class apart, and were made to feel it,” (pg 102)
“Hearing in the wailing melodies the voices of the unborn generation which cried out in her for life,” (pg 105)